Quantifying the dynamics of marine invertebrate metacommunities: What processes can maintain high diversity with low densities in the Mediterranean Sea?

The Mediterranean Sea hosts 5.6% of the world benthic invertebrate species on 0.82% of the ocean surface. Mediterranean ecosystems are also characterized by low densities (and biomasses) compared to other oceanic ecosystems, a feature often attributed to their oligotrophic environment. Oligotrophic conditions can induce lower growth rates and higher mortality rates, and a stronger competition for food between individuals. A theoretical model was developed in order to study the diversity vs. density patterns in coastal benthic invertebrate species. This model describes their minimal population dynamics including basic processes (growth, mortality, reproduction and effects of competitive interactions between individuals) and incorporating fluxes of larvae (finally recruited as juveniles) between a mosaic of local habitats. Populations are therefore structured in a metacommunity. The connectivity between local communities is ensured by passive pelagic larval dispersal. In the Mediterranean Sea, because of the microtidal regime, the connectivity between coastal habitats is lower and more variable than in macrotidal basins. Mathematical properties of the model revealed that competitive interactions (intra- and interspecific competitions) have a stabilizing effect on interacting organisms when gains by recruitment are higher than losses by mortality. In addition, low mortality rates and low connectivity which decreases negative local interactions maintains high regional species diversity with low local densities. This property suggested that oligotrophy cannot be the only factor leading to the high diversity–low density pattern observed in the Mediterranean Sea.     

Bird disturbance on conservation sites in Brittany (France): the standpoint of geographers

Bird disturbance by human activities is one of the impacts related to human presence at conservation sites in Brittany (France). This paper is an attempt at reviewing this relatively unknown problem through the results of an international bibliographical review and of a regional inquiry conducted in close collaboration with managers of the conservation areas in Brittany. These two approaches will help to demonstrate the extent and complexity of the human / fauna interactions, as well as to take stock of the state of research in this field and, last but not least, to highlight the difficulties managers of conservation sites are facing to deal with this new issue. For the managers, bird disturbance is indeed the most important impact related to human attendance on conservation sites in Brittany.     

Mixing layer in open-channel junction flows

When two open-channel flows merge in a three-branch subcritical junction, a mixing layer appears at the interface between the two inflows. If the width of the downstream channel is equal to the width of each inlet channel, this mixing layer is accelerated and is curved due to the junction geometry. The present work is dedicated to simplified geometries, considering a flat bed and a \(90^{\circ }\) angle where two configurations with different momentum ratios are tested. Due to the complex flow pattern in the junction, the so-called Serret–Frenet frame-axis based on the local direction of the velocity must be employed to characterize the flow pattern and the mixing layer as Cartesian and cylindrical frame-axes are not adapted. The analysis reveals that the centerline of the mixing layer, defined as the location of maximum Reynolds stress and velocity gradient, fairly fits the streamline separating at the upstream corner, even though a slight shift of the mixing layer towards the center of curvature is observed. The shape of the mixing layer appears to be strongly affected by the streamwise acceleration and the complex lateral confinement due to the side walls and the corners of the junction, leading to a streamwise increase of the mean velocity along the centerline and a decrease of the velocity difference. This results in a specific streamwise evolution of the mixing layer width, which reaches a plateau in the downstream region of the junction. Finally, the evaluation of the terms in the Reynolds-Averaged-Navier–Stokes equations reveals that the streamwise and normal acceleration and the pressure gradient remain dominant, which is typical of accelerated and rotational flows.     

Choosing classes for size projection matrix models

Projection matrix models are intensely used in ecology to model the dynamics of structured populations. When dealing with size-structured populations, there is no satisfactory algorithm to partition size into discrete classes. We show that the Vandermeer-Moloney algorithm for choosing classes is inconsistent with the Usher model, and systematically selects the finest classes. Considering that the matrix model is a discrete approximation of a continuous model, we define an approximation error as the sum of a distribution error (the difference between the discrete distribution and its continuous counterpart), and a sample error. The optimal partition of size into classes is the one that minimizes the approximation error. This method for choosing classes also shows that the choice of the class width cannot be disconnected from the choice of the time step. When applied to 520 trees of Dicorynia guianensis in French Guiana, this algorithm identified 8 classes of 11.4 cm in width, which is in agreement with the empirical choice of foresters.     

Intra-sex vocal interactions in two hybridizing seabird species (Puffinus sp.)

Hybridization between two closely related species breeding in sympatry depends on the effectiveness of both inter-sex (sexual attraction) and intra-sex (competitors’ repulsion) components of communication. As birds primarily communicate acoustically, several studies have investigated interspecific vocal interactions between the sexes and their consequences on sympatric zones with a focus on songbird species. Here, we investigate these issues on intra-sex vocal interactions occurring during incubation in two non-songbird sister species, the Yelkouan Puffinus yelkouan and the Balearic Puffinus mauretanicus shearwaters. We compared the acoustical structure of calls and the behaviors obtained in response to same-sex Yelkouan and Balearic calls across allopatric parental populations from each species and a sympatric-hybridized population. Acoustic analyses showed that, for both sexes, calls have species-specific characteristics while hybrids have intermediate acoustic features compared to their parental species. Playback experiments showed that despite their vocal differences, both species interact and reply to each other. Remarkably, incubating Yelkouan and hybrid individuals resulted in equal intra-sex responses to either species while incubating Balearic birds led to lower territorial responses to Yelkouan than to conspecific calls. Moreover, incubating Balearic males less readily responded to same-sex Yelkouan calls than Balearic females. These results may have fitness consequences: Yelkouan birds, and especially males, would be more likely to win same-sex disputes against Balearic incubating birds than against Yelkouan incubating birds.     

Laboratory investigation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fallopia</Emphasis> × <Emphasis Type="Italic">bohemica</Emphasis> fruits dispersal by watercourses

Seed and fruit dispersal along watercourses favours the long-distance migration of invasive species, not only for aquatic or wetland species, but also for terrestrial wind-dispersed plants, like the Japanese knotweed. The present paper aims at investigating the role of watercourses in the dispersal of the knotweed due to its frequent occurrence on riverbanks and production of fertile achenes (type of fruit of the Japanese knotweed). This dispersal occurs along two steps after the fruits deposit on the water surface: floatation first and then sinking towards the bottom of the watercourse. Regarding the first step, the effects of agitation of the water, temperature, surface tension and luminosity on the achenes floatability are experimentally studied. While no influence of luminosity is observed, an increase of temperature greatly decreases the floating time. Floating time also decreases as the contact between water and the fruit is enhanced (through submersion of achenes, agitation of the water or lower surface tension). Regarding the second step, the fall velocity of the fruits in water at rest is measured and appears to be independent of the seed history (floating time). 3D helical motions are systematically observed with constant tangential velocity with respect to the falling velocity. The trajectory of the fruits in a shear flow is then measured and the evolution of their velocity components along the sinking process is discussed. Finally, the contribution of both steps to the long-distance migration of the seeds is estimated.     

Strong Influence of Variable Treatment on the Performance of Numerically Defined Ecological Regions

Numerical clustering has frequently been used to define hierarchically organized ecological regionalizations, but there has been little robust evaluation of their performance (i.e., the degree to which regions discriminate areas with similar ecological character). In this study we investigated the effect of the weighting and treatment of input variables on the performance of regionalizations defined by agglomerative clustering across a range of hierarchical levels. For this purpose, we developed three ecological regionalizations of Switzerland of increasing complexity using agglomerative clustering. Environmental data for our analysis were drawn from a 400 m grid and consisted of estimates of 11 environmental variables for each grid cell describing climate, topography and lithology. Regionalization 1 was defined from the environmental variables which were given equal weights. We used the same variables in Regionalization 2 but weighted and transformed them on the basis of a dissimilarity model that was fitted to land cover composition data derived for a random sample of cells from interpretation of aerial photographs. Regionalization 3 was a further two-stage development of Regionalization 2 where specific classifications, also weighted and transformed using dissimilarity models, were applied to 25 small scale “sub-domains” defined by Regionalization 2. Performance was assessed in terms of the discrimination of land cover composition for an independent set of sites using classification strength (CS), which measured the similarity of land cover composition within classes and the dissimilarity between classes. Regionalization 2 performed significantly better than Regionalization 1, but the largest gains in performance, compared to Regionalization 1, occurred at coarse hierarchical levels (i.e., CS did not increase significantly beyond the 25-region level). Regionalization 3 performed better than Regionalization 2 beyond the 25-region level and CS values continued to increase to the 95-region level. The results show that the performance of regionalizations defined by agglomerative clustering are sensitive to variable weighting and transformation. We conclude that large gains in performance can be achieved by training classifications using dissimilarity models. However, these gains are restricted to a narrow range of hierarchical levels because agglomerative clustering is unable to represent the variation in importance of variables at different spatial scales. We suggest that further advances in the numerical definition of hierarchically organized ecological regionalizations will be possible with techniques developed in the field of statistical modeling of the distribution of community composition.     

The effects on electricity prices in england and wales of notional sulphur dioxide emission standards for power stations

Reducing emissions of sulphur dioxide from the electricity industry in England and Wales would require application of abatement technology and raise electricity prices through increases in marginal supply costs. Capital and operating costs of alternative abatement techniques and their application under possible long-term investment and retirement plans for the industry are discussed. An approximate halving of projected emissions is found to have an effect of the order of 5% on prices under the existing tariff structure. Reductions of up to one-fifth are found to have an effect of under 1% on electricity prices.